


A Journey to the Past

by welcometomystic



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Just for clarification, Trans Yuri Plisetsky, WAY smaller age gap, Yuri was Yuliya, but for right now, will add tags as I go along
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 18:14:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11742462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometomystic/pseuds/welcometomystic
Summary: An Anastasia AU where Yuri was the Grand Duchess Yuliya Victorovna of the House of Nikiforov and fell in love with the kitchen boy...only, he forgets that last part...and all of the parts...I'm not quite sure how to explain this in a serious-sounding way, but I can assure you that this is a very serious fic and will be much darker than the cute movie it is based on.





	A Journey to the Past

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this prologue! Please let me know what you think :D

There was a time, not so very long ago, when the Nikiforovs lived in an enchanted world. Tsars, duchesses, _royalty._

Russia was ruled by the Nikiforovs at this time, as it had been for centuries previous. Grand balls were held, gold and gems were worn, and nobility conversed with nobility. Up until 1917, that is.

In 1917, the Bolsheviks started a revolt that quickly bubbled up into a full-blown revolution. In 1918, the Nikiforovs had been forced into hiding in a small house located in Yekaterinburg. No one would suspect them there, or so they had hoped. A Bolshevik Commander (quite secretively) took control over the guards and ordered the isolation of the Royal Family.

The poor family lived this way--imprisoned behind boarded-up windows and locked doors--until that one fateful day, the day that the entire country would have trouble forgetting.

•~☆~•

"Yuliya..." A voice whispered into the darkness, very near Yuliya's right ear.

An irritated groan left her mouth in response to this.

"Yulechka..." The familiar voice called again, and a light flickered to life right next to Yuliya's face. For this, she groaned a second time, with much more anger laced in her tone.

"This is _important,_ Yulechka!" Yuuri explained, gently shaking Yuliya's shoulders instead of speaking louder. He couldn't wake any of the guards, not when he finally knew what the consequences could be if he was caught.

"What _is_ it, Yuurasha?! What could _possibly_ be so important this early, huh?!" Yuliya hissed. The sun wasn't even out yet!

"Yulechka, I think you're in trouble. I've heard talk, and..." Yuuri paused and Yuliya sat in silence. "Yuliya, you're in trouble. All of you, the whole _family!_ I think they're going.... I think they're going to _kill_ you!" His voice was so sincere, and there was never a time where she could remember him lying to her.

"You think so?" She asked, feeling a little dumb for doing so, but she...was in shock. How could she be in danger? "What about the guards?"

"The guards were the ones talking! They're all in on it!" Yuliya was confused, and it showed in her actions--she wasn't cutting Yuuri off like she so often did, and she straightened her back more to better observe Yuuri's face in the lamplight. "I don't know much, but I do know that someone took control over the house. Someone bad, and the guards are going to do something to you and your family soon. You mustn't trust them, Yulechka! I told my Uncle Celestino and he's arranged for a carriage to pick you all up in 3 days, at nightfall."

"Why are you....?" Yuliya couldn't respond. Why was Yuuri doing this for her? For her _family?_ Yes, the two of them were....well, despite the fact that Yuuri was 12, and she was 8, the two of them hit it off.

°•°•°

When her father had learned of their 'secret affair', he had found it adorable. His blue eyes had shone with mirth as he explained that it did not bother him that his youngest daughter was in love with a kitchen boy. Victor, instead, was glad that Yuliya could find some happiness, considering their current predicament. He had always been more optimistic in that way. Besides, rules were made to be broken, weren't they? At least in one's childhood.

_"You'll protect my daughter won't you, my зайчик." The Tsar had asked Yuuri lightheartedly._

_Yuuri's eyes went wide as he stumbled over his words. "O-Of **course,** Your Highness! I-"_

_"Please, Yuuri: call me 'Papa'. The two of you are inseparable these days. I know about the visits to the kitchens, and the loose floorboard." Their hiding spaces, where they...kissed. Yuuri turned bright red. "You treat my daughter well, and you make her laugh.  For this, you are like my son." Victor replied, resting a hand on Yuuri's shoulder._

°•°•°

"Because I love you, and _your_ family is _my_ family." Yuuri replied, taking Yuliya's hand in his, kissing her knuckles once before letting the hand slip from his grasp. It fell to the bed lifelessly.

"I love you too, Yuurasha... _thank you."_

•~☆~•

If only it had been that easy, if only the kitchen boy's ears had picked up on the plan sooner. The next night was when the siege took place.

The Nikiforovs were told that the city was under attack, and that they must evacuate immediately. Being such fine examples of royalty--even at times like these--everyone had dressed in their finest clothes. The women in bejeweled corsets, the men in their finest uniforms.

•~☆~•

"Your Majesties, we will take our leave in but a few moments. Please, rest in this area." A guard instructed, gesturing to a small semi-basement.

Remembering Yuuri's warning, Yuliya kept a wary eye on the guard and, despite being the youngest daughter--thus making her the first to enter--she stood her ground.

"It is merely a safety precaution, my liege. We wouldn't want any members of the White forces to spot you or your family through these windows." He pointed to the outer wall of the room they occupied at the moment, the one that was lined with several windows without curtains upon them, inviting anyone to look inside.

 _"Please,_ Yuliya! Just listen to the man, he knows what he's talking about after all!" Her oldest sister, Anya, hissed angrily, shoving Yuliya forward slightly.

"Anya, please! _Behave!"_ Victor called in his fatherly way, causing all thoughts of mischief to leave every family member's mind. "Yuliya, would you please enter the parlor?"

Of course her father was trying to add more glamour to the situation, calling the barely furnished basement a 'parlor'. Though, Yuliya figured that if it made him happy, she would bite her tongue and let it be.

_Still._

Yuliya gulped before descending into the room, everything in her attempting to fight against her treacherous legs. She shouldn't be doing this, none of them should. Yuuri was right, there was something fishy going on here. It was too late now, though.

The family became situated, Victor holding Yuliya in his lap while everyone else stood. Victor had claimed that it was because he had a 'paternal instinct telling him that his little Лимон пирожки was frightened'. He pulled Yuliya into a close embrace, nuzzling her hair softly and assuringly. Then, in a hushed tone, Victor spoke.

"I know you do not trust them, Yulechka. Nor do I. They are feeding us lies, and you know this. How?" Victor asked, so quietly that Yuliya herself could barely hear.

"Yuuri told me, Papa. He heard the guards talking, and he told me not to trust them. He told me to wait a couple more days and a man that his uncle knows would come and take us away to be safe." Yuliya explained just as quietly.

Victor smiled in spite of himself. "That boy: he never ceases to amaze me. We are lucky to have him."

"Yes, Papa." Yuliya agreed, a soft smile taking control over the corners of her mouth. "We _are_ very lucky to have him."

The conversation was cut off then, the sound of several pairs of loud, thumping footsteps. After that there was a series of clicks and bangs, then came the screaming. Everyone was screaming.

Yuliya watched as her sisters shrieked and ran around like caged rats, dropping one after the other. There wasn't any blood, which surprised her. Wouldn't there be blood? They've all just been shot, why aren't they-

A shock of pain exploded in Yuliya's gut and she fell to her knees, the tinkling of jewels shattering drowned out by the open gunfire. She gasped as if all the air had been sucked out of her lungs, instinctively resting her hand against the left side of her abdomen, tears and saliva dripping to the floor as agony stole Yuliya's body from her. She was in so much pain that she was numb, unable to feel the tiny slices left on her hand from diamonds and rubies. She couldn't move, couldn't hear, couldn't _think_ , she was in so much pain.

 _"RUN,_ YULECHKA!!"

What? The ringing in her ears blocked out most of the message, but the voice was most certainly her father's. He sounded determined but _afraid._ Papa was never afraid.

  _ **RUUNNNN!!!"**_

Yuliya was on her hands and knees. She looked up and saw her father stubbornly pushing several 'guards' out of his way until a flash of silver appeared in his back. After that, he fell and dragged a couple men down with him.

Yuliya was close enough to the door that she could escape, if she was fast. So, she pushed herself up, lifted her skirts, and she ran.

She only just managed to slip past the guards at the door because Anya started screaming again. She was moving and screaming, as if raised from the dead, and this brought a chill to the very soul of every soldier in the room.

The soldiers froze, and Yuliya never looked back. She kept running, just like Papa told her to. She climbed over her silent, blood-soaked and motionless father and scrambled up the stairs.

Yuuri was there, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her in front of him as they ducked to avoid the bullets flying past them. One hit Yuliya in the leg and she would have fallen if it wasn't for Yuuri dragging her on, telling her that they must keep moving, that she'd be dead if they stopped.

Then Yuuri was peeling away the wall, pushing her down onto her hands and knees once again. Yuliya cried out in pain as her injured hand hit the ground, but then Yuuri was shoving her forward into the tunnel and she had to keep moving. The two of them crawled and crawled, inhaling dust and mold as they did so, until Yuliya reached the end of it. Yuuri told her to push on the wall as hard as she could, that there was a door there, so she did.

Yuliya fell into the snow then, but she quickly picked herself up and made room for Yuuri to climb out as well. A long while passed and Yuuri was still struggling to free himself from the tunnel, but it seemed that he wouldn't be going anywhere. He was stuck.

"Yulechka...."

"No.." Yuliya said, already knowing what Yuuri would be demanding of her. She couldn't...she _wouldn't_.

"Yulechka, _please,"_ Yuuri begged, but she still shook her head. She wouldn't! She refused to leave him for dead!!

"Yuliya, you have to keep going!!" Yuuri cried, pushing her forward. "Just run!"

Her father's voice echoed in her mind, mingling with Yuuri's own command.

And so she ran.

•~☆~•

It had been days...

For _days_ she had been running, knocking on every door, begging for food or water or shelter. _SOMETHING!_

She then fell ill, the wound on her leg having gotten infected while she stumbled around like a peasant-child, her clothes stolen from her down to her slip and petticoat on the first night.

She didn't know who she was anymore, nor what she was running from. She had forgotten everything because of the illness. All she knew was that she had to run, had to keep running. She told everyone that passed her this, that the darkness was coming for her, that she needed to run or she would be dead.

A family took her in, giving her everything she needed and more, even when she decided she was no longer female.

"What is your name, then?"

What _was_ his name? The family had given him a, thankfully, gender-neutral name a couple months ago, when they found him, but it didn't fit anymore.

"...Yuri." He replied. The name sounded right somehow, like he had heard it before. It sounded important. That's how you pick a name, right? "I'm Yuri."

"Yuri it is, then."


End file.
